The Twilight Lord (16 page)

The emperor’s eyes narrowed as he considered Jonah’s words. Then he said, “Do you really think she can convince Aubin to relinquish his place in the succession, Jonah?”

“I think she is the only person who can,” Jonah replied. “Half your wealth, my lord, will buy you the woman you love for your wife and your empress and a clear line of descent. Isn’t it worth it?” Following Vilia’s lead he pushed the emperor, but gently.

Gaius Prospero sighed deeply. Then he said, “Go to her, Jonah, and tell her if she will convince Aubin to give up his place as my heir, then I will agree to all of her demands. You are right! I would end this as quickly as possible. As the bitch pointedly reminded me I cannot have another wife die suddenly merely for my convenience. I think she knows about Anora, though how I cannot be certain. But I will not allow Vilia to spoil my happiness. Nor will I allow any harm or slander to touch my Shifra.”

“I shall go at once, my lord,” Jonah told him, and he hurried off. Reaching Vilia’s apartments he was ushered into her presence. She received him seated in a high-backed chair. “Lord Jonah,” she said formally. “What is it my husband wishes of me?” She waved a hand at her serving women. “Leave us. I will call if I need you.” Then she turned her attention to Jonah, waiting until the women had left the chamber. “Well?” she demanded. “Has he recovered from his shock?”

“Your proposal is painful for him, my darling, but if Aubin will agree to give up his place in the succession, then the emperor will agree to give you what you want. He wants it done quickly and you gone from The City as soon as possible.”

“I will send for my son at once,” Vilia said.

Aubin Prospero came with all haste and listened to what his mother had to tell him. He was a younger version of his father, of medium height and stocky. When his mother concluded her tale he said, “I will want to be named your principal heir in your will, Mother. My sisters have husbands to provide for them. And if I am to find a rich wife it must be known that I am your heir. The wealthy do not give their daughters to poor men. Give me ninety percent of what is left when you go to the Celestial Actuary and the girls may each have five percent.”

“Is that not just a trifle greedy, Aubin?” Vilia asked her son.

“Nay, ’tis not. It isn’t likely my father will leave me anything, Mother. I was at the auction where he bought his new Pleasure Woman. Shifra is incredibly beautiful and she will probably give the emperor children. I don’t care about being his heir and inheriting his throne one day,” Aubin Prospero said. “I would not want to be in his shoes. I am content with my activities with the Merchants’ Guild. I should not like to have the responsibilities of Hetar upon my shoulders.”

“I will give you eighty percent, Aubin, and your sisters will each gain ten percent. That is fairer, my son.”

The young man laughed. “Done!” he said, holding out his hand to his mother.

Vilia took her son’s hand, shook it and then kissed it. “Thank you,” she said. “You will, of course, have to sign some sort of legal document, won’t he, Lord Jonah?”

“Aye, my lady, we must observe the legalities of the matter to the nth degree,” Jonah answered. Then he turned to Aubin Prospero. “You are certain, young lord?”

“I am certain,” Aubin Prospero answered him.

“I shall go and tell the emperor, my lady,” Jonah said and departed the room.

“What will you do?” Aubin Prospero asked his mother.

“I am going to my villa in the Outlands province,” she told him. “I love it there and have since the moment I saw the property. My home is spacious and comfortable. You must come and see it, Aubin. If you like it I will give it to you one day.”

He smiled at her. “You are not unhappy, are you, Mother? I suspect you are glad to be getting your divorce from my father.”

“He is going to marry her and eventually declare her the empress,” Vilia said. “I can hardly remain under those circumstances, can I, Aubin?”

Aubin Prospero shook his head. “He is giving her what should have been yours,” he said slowly. “I do not like that he shames you in such a fashion.”

“I can only be shamed if I allow it,” Vilia said. “He will marry her by summer’s end, but he will not create her empress until the people are used to her. He would destroy his credibility with the people if he crowned her while the ink was still fresh on our divorce papers.” Vilia chuckled.

“You are an amazing woman, Mother,” Aubin Prospero said. “What a shame my father could never see that. If I cannot find a woman like you I shall never marry,” he told her with a smile and then he kissed her cheek.

Vilia laughed. “You will marry one day, Aubin,” she told him. Then she took his hand in hers. “When the news of our divorce becomes public and it soon will, you will be queried by friends and acquaintances alike. Do not fault your father in the matter. You are right when you say I am not unhappy. I am not. Actually, by freeing me your father has done me a great kindness, so let none speak ill of him.”

“I hope he has made a decent settlement upon you, Mother. You have served him well all these years,” Aubin said.

Vilia laughed. “If you want to know what I have taken from him, my son, then just ask it of me. When this is over and done with and the papers signed, your father will be poorer by half his wealth,” she told him, laughing again as his eyes grew wide with his surprise. “You will be a very rich man one day.”

When Aubin Prospero got past his shock he said, “Amazing! You have earned every cubit of it, Mother. Who negotiated the settlement for you with father?”

“I did,” Vilia responded. “Do you think I would pay some legal counsel when I was perfectly competent to do it myself?”

He laughed. “Amazing!” he repeated. Then he arose. “With your permission I will depart. I have an assignation at Lady Gillian’s tonight with an enchanting creature and I do not want to keep her waiting.” He caught his mother’s hand up and kissed it. “Goodbye, Mother. Do not leave The City before you have seen me again.”

“I shall not, Aubin,” Vilia said and watched as her son left her. He was a dear boy, she thought. Yet he could never imagine the plans that she and Jonah had and perhaps that was just as well. She would keep her bargain with her son, for any child she gave Jonah would inherit his father’s wealth.

H
ROLLEIF
,
CHIEF OF THE
Wolfyn, looked about the table at his companions—Skrymir, chieftain of the Dark Land giants; Dain, chieftain of the Dark Land dwarfs; Alfrigg, the chancellor of the Dark Land; and the Twilight Lord himself. Why, Hrolleif wondered, had they all been called into the great Kol’s presence? Then Kol spoke.

“The time for conquest draws near,” he began. “I have the faerie woman in my power. She ripens with my heir. The Munin have been slowly restoring her memory. Soon I will return the memory of how to use all of her magic.”

“But will she wield it for you?” Hrolleif growled in a deep voice. The Wolfyn were creatures with the heads of wolves and the bodies of mortal men. They were fierce fighters and savage in their conquests, which had been few in recent decades.

“She has no memory of her past other than that which I choose to allow her,” Kol said. “She loves me. If she did not I could never have impregnated her with my son. She will do whatever I wish, for she trusts me. She believes I taught her the magic she now remembers. She believes I gave her the knowledge so she might help me.”

“I have heard it said that when you mate with other women you have them killed afterwards in order to please Lara,” Dain of the Dwarfs remarked.

“That seems a shameful waste of female flesh,” Skrymir muttered.

The Twilight Lord laughed. “I only killed a few to gain her trust,” he replied. “If she continues to believe that I kill more, it is all to the good, is it not, my lords?”

“Is it possible that your own black heart has been engaged by the faerie woman? It is said that her charms are irresistible,” Hrolleif growled. “Love is a deterrent to power, my lord, as you well know.”

Kol shot the Wolfyn chief an angry look. “If anything,” he replied, “Lara has strengthened my powers. Whether I love her or not matters little, for our magic combined is unstoppable. Do you question my vision now, Hrolleif?” The look Kol gave the Wolfyn caused Hrolleif’s pointed ears to twitch.

“Nay, my lord Kol!” he protested. “I am merely concerned for your well-being. Perhaps it is natural that you feel tenderly toward this faerie woman who has been chosen to bear your son. I recall a similar emotion when my mate dropped her first litter.”

“Aye,” Skrymir added soothingly in his rough voice. “We all have felt tenderly toward our mates when they are breeding. It is natural.”

Dain nodded in agreement.

“My lords, can we please get back to the matter at hand?” Alfrigg said sharply.

Kol hid his smile at the irritation in his chancellor’s voice. Alfrigg was not a sentimental man. “The timing will be crucial,” he said. “The planning, however, must begin now for the key to keeping our casualties low and the damage to the land at a minimum will be in that foresight.”

“We will want the forests of Hetar and the cattle pastures of the Fiacre for ourselves, my lord,” Hrolleif said.

“And
we
will want the mountains in Hetar and Terah for ourselves,” Dain remarked. “And the dwarfs there for our slaves.”

Kol held up an elegant hand. “My lords,” he said. “This can all be worked out. I shall leave you with Alfrigg to begin your work.” Then with a cold smile he left them.

Kol moved swiftly through the corridors of his castle. He was anxious to be with Lara, a fact that surprised him every time he realized it. In just a few more months she would deliver his son and heir. And then they might take pleasures together again. He had missed their couplings, but it was tradition that once the Chosen One was with child her lord did not use her body even casually. Strangely the lustful urges that generally overcame him were few of late and he rarely visited his House of Women where there lived a variety of beautiful females from his own world and others.

Reaching Lara’s quarters he swept into her dayroom. “Good morrow, my precious,” he greeted her with a small smile.

“My dearest lord!” Lara held out her arms to him in welcome. She was lounging upon a purple velvet couch with but one rolled arm. “What have you been doing today while I missed your company?” One graceful hand lay upon her swollen belly.

“Beginning the plan for our conquest of the other worlds,” he told her. “I have gathered Hrolleif of the Wolfyn, Skrymir of the Giants and Dain of the Dwarfs, all bound to me by oath. I left them with Alfrigg. What have you been doing?”

“I spent some hours looking into the reflecting bowl as you suggested. The fat emperor of Hetar seems to be a wife short from the last time I looked. He still does not know that his first wife is betraying him with his right hand.” She laughed. “And he has fallen in love, Kol! That obnoxious little man is in love!”

“Is his lover beautiful, my precious?” Kol asked Lara.

“Oh yes, very beautiful! I have planned a delicious entertainment for us when we take The City, my lord. Before we kill him we will bind this fat emperor to his throne and make him watch as this pretty creature he loves is forced to give pleasures to you as Hetar’s conqueror. And you will use both your dominant and lesser rods with the girl. Then you will pass her to the Wolfyn chief, the Dwarf chief and finally to Skrymir. If his love rod does not split her in two then we will give her to whichever of your legions fought the hardest. Her screams should drive the fat emperor mad,” Lara laughed.

Kol smiled broadly. “My precious, what delicious darkness bubbles within you. May our son inherit it. But what of the emperor’s unfaithful wife? Should she not also be punished for her naughtiness?”

“Not as severely, for her wickedness is dark. Is that not good, my lord?” Lara purred. “Let her be forced to take pleasures with her lover in the emperor’s sight. And then we will kill the fat slug. But slowly. We will cut his rod and balls from his body. I will prevent him from feeling the pain of it. Then we will roast them over a slow fire and force him to eat them.” She giggled. “With each bite he takes he will feel the pain. His screams, however, will become tedious then, my lord, and so we will have to garotte him.” She caressed his cheek. “Do you like my program, my lord?”

“Aye, I do, you charming witch. How I wish we might take pleasures together, for when you speak of such delightful evil I am filled with my lust for you, Lara, my precious. But my son must be protected.” He lay his hand on her belly and smiled into her icy green eyes. “You are such perfection, Lara. I adore you!”

“I am so glad the knowledge of my magic has returned,” Lara told him, smiling back into his eyes. “Now, my lord, there is something we must discuss. I will need a wet nurse for this child. A healthy woman with big breasts overfull with milk to suckle our son, for I will have no time for such common labors. Find me such a woman and have her ready for the day I give birth. Tell her to wean her own child within the next two months. Then she must come to the castle and you will suckle her daily until your son is birthed. It will keep her milk fresh and sweet, her breasts overflowing and ready to nourish your son. Is that not a perfect idea?”

Kol found himself more and more astounded by Lara as each day passed. The faerie woman of Hetar and Terah was known for her kindness, her goodness. But Lara, devoid of all of her personal memories, this Lara that he was helping to shape and create was a creature of pure darkness. She was indeed his mate and for the next several hundred years they would enjoy one another, for it appeared the mortal in her had been overridden by her magic. She would not die young as humans did.

I
N THE WORLD BEYOND
the Dark Land the spring passed, another summer came and Magnus Hauk grew more and more despondent. His magical allies appeared to be completely stymied by Lara’s mysterious disappearance and their inability to find her was maddening. The Dominus’s only solace was the three children in his home. Zagiri was now four years old and would have forgotten her mother had it not been for her half sister, Anoush. The Dominus had come to love Lara’s two offspring by Vartan, but he especially loved Anoush, for even with little real personal knowledge herself of her mother, the girl wove a history of Lara that kept her alive for Zagiri.

“When will our mother return to us?” Magnus Hauk heard his daughter ask her half sister one day.

“Very soon, I am sure, little Zagiri,” Anoush assured her younger sibling. “Her destiny will soon be realized and she will return to us.”

“Really? Truly?” Zagiri asked wide-eyed.

“Oh yes,” Anoush replied with certainty.

“How do you know that?” Zagiri said.

“I just do,” Anoush responded. “Do not forget, Zagiri, that our mother is a magical being and we have all inherited certain of her talents, I am sure.”

Dillon, who had been standing in the shadows with his stepfather, smiled and said softly, “Aye, and now I see that Anoush has been given the gift of sight along with her budding abilities as a healer.”

Magnus Hauk drew in a sharp breath. “And Zagiri. What will her talent be?”

“I do not know, Magnus,” the boy replied. “It is too soon.”

“Walk with me,” the Dominus said. “We need to talk. It’s almost a year now since your mother was stolen away. Answer me honestly. Do you believe that Kaliq does not know where she is? And what of Ilona? It has been weeks since I have heard from either of them and when I do, they say naught but that there is no hint of where Lara is. I think that they lie and I wonder why it is that they do. My suspicions grow daily.”

Dillon nodded. “I cannot say that I do not agree with you, Magnus. It has seemed odd to me that the Shadow Princes, the most powerful beings in our world, are ignorant of my mother’s fate. But I am yet a boy and my talents have not been trained. Still, I believe it is now time for you to request Prince Kaliq’s presence. Ask him directly what it is he knows and why he has kept it from us. We have all been patient but we are all suffering from Mother’s absence. Verica, my mother’s staff, has ceased speaking even to me. Andraste, her sword, hums incessantly from her place above the hearth in my mother’s rooms. Dasras yet sulks in the New Outlands with Sakira, and the clan families mourn without ceasing and blame themselves. But we know that they are not responsible for Mother’s disappearance.”

“Is it, do you think, her destiny?” the Dominus asked his stepson fearfully.

“It must be, but we will not know until we have summoned Kaliq,” the boy said. “You must do it, Magnus. You must call for the Shadow Prince to come to us.”

Magnus Hauk nodded. “Then let us go to the interior chamber from where your mother and I summon him. It is private.”

“First let us see the girls tucked into their beds,” Dillon suggested. “It will be better for us all in the quiet of the night when we are less apt to be disturbed. I will find Mila and see it done.”

The Dominus nodded and sought the little chamber to wait for Dillon.
Lara!
Her name echoed softly in his head. What had happened to his beloved wife? Where could she be? His first thoughts were that Hetar had somehow managed to gain custody of her. If so, he was ready to go to war over it. But Kaliq assured him it was not and Magnus Hauk had trusted Kaliq—although now he was not certain that he still should. And if the great Shadow Prince knew where Lara was, why had he kept the knowledge to himself? Questions, questions. He had far more questions than he had answers.

Finally his stepson joined him.

“All is secure. It is a quiet night, Magnus.”

“Then we are ready to summon Kaliq.” He turned and faced a blank wall opposite the door to the chamber.
“Kaliq of the Shadows, heed my call. Come to me from out yon wall,”
the Dominus intoned.

“Good evening, Magnus. Dillon,” the Shadow Prince said as he stepped through the wall and into the chamber. “It has been some weeks since we last spoke. You are both looking well, I am pleased to see.”

He was as handsome as ever, Dillon thought. The Shadow Prince’s bright blue eyes blazed with light. His ebony hair showed no silver despite his many centuries.

“We are not well,” the Dominus replied. “None of us. We all suffer Lara’s loss. Our children. The clan families. Dasras, Andraste, Verica, the Terahn people. I think you know where my wife is, Kaliq, and the time has come for you to be forthright with me.”

Kaliq’s eyes touched Dillon lightly. “And you, young Dillon? What think you?” he asked the boy.

“I agree with my stepfather, my lord prince. While I realize you have your reasons for keeping silent, I also think it is past time for us to know the truth.”

Kaliq smiled a small smile. “Use your instincts, young Dillon,” he said. “Concentrate and use them now! Tell me where Lara is!”

Dillon’s eyes closed slowly. He was silent for some few minutes and then opening his eyes he said, “My mother is in the Dark Lands, my lord.”

Kaliq nodded. “She is,” he agreed.

Magnus Hauk felt hot anger welling up within him. Forcing that anger back he said, “If you knew Lara was in the Dark Lands, why did you not tell us a year ago?”

“Come now, Magnus, you know the answer to that as well as I do. You would have mounted an expedition and warred with the Dark Landers. We could not allow it. Had you attacked them you would have loosed the forces of darkness upon both Terah and Hetar. Your worlds would not have known real peace for centuries. The darkness must always be contained, Magnus. We cannot wipe it out entirely for there must always be a certain balance between good and evil, but we can contain the worst of it. When we do not, war, pestilence, cruelty and famine roam the worlds and cause havoc.”

“But the Dark Land has always remained to itself,” Magnus Hauk said.

“Yes, but as there is prophecy here and in Hetar, so there is prophecy in the Dark Lands. Lara has always known that she had a special destiny. Part of that destiny is in the Dark Lands. When she has fulfilled it she will be returned to you. Shortly, that part of her destiny will be met. And it must be met or the worlds of Hetar and Terah will suffer. That is why you could not know where she was. You must trust me in this. I will allow no harm to come to Lara. I would forfeit my own life first.”